The NBA has announced the finalists for six major awards that honor top performers from the 2016-17 regular season: Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year, Kia NBA Sixth Man Award, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Most Improved Player and NBA Coach of the Year.
Kawhi Leonard is a finalist for Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year. Coach Gregg Popovich is a finalist for Coach of the year.
The finalists for the six awards, based on voting results from a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, are below:
Kia NBA Most Valuable Player Kia NBA Rookie of the Year
James Harden, Houston Rockets Malcolm Brogdon, Milwaukee Bucks
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder Dario Saric, Philadelphia 76ers
Kia NBA Sixth Man Award Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Eric Gordon, Houston Rockets Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz
Andre Iguodala, Golden State Warriors Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Lou Williams, Houston Rockets Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Kia NBA Most Improved Player NBA Coach of the Year
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks Mike D’Antoni, Houston Rockets
Rudy Gobert, Utah Jazz Gregg Popovich, San Antonio Spurs
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets Erik Spoelstra, Miami Heat
The winners for these awards will be revealed on the same night for the first time during the inaugural NBA Awards on TNT, which will be hosted by platinum-selling recording artist Drake on Monday, June 26 (9 p.m. ET) live from Basketball City in New York.
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